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Channel Islands MPAs after Ten Years Booklet

After ten years of monitoring within a network of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) in the northern Channel Islands, a new series of analyses show changes in subtidal rocky reef and kelp forest habitats. A four-page booklet "Ten Years of Change at the Channel Islands" summarizes these findings. Overall, sea life inside these reserves is bigger and more abundant than outside the reserves. The booklet also describes how different MPAs performed and discusses the complexities of identifying the effects of MPAs across environmental gradients.

PISCO scientist Jennifer Caselle from University of California Santa Barbara leads this subtidal research in the Channel Islands. PISCO kelp forest monitoring could not occur without substantial support from a large number of partners and funders. These include: David and Lucile Packard Foundation, Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, Channel Islands National Park, NOAA, National Science Foundation, CA Department of Fish and Wildlife, Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary, CA Ocean Protection Council, CA Sea Grant, and Resources Legacy Fund.